The Song Remains the Same
by TheBombDiggity
Summary: What happened on their tour of America and how did it shape these five young boys from Japan? Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"FREEBIRD!"

"Fuck Skynyrd! Play some Zeppelin!"

"No fuck these guys! I heard you guys sucked, YOU SUCK!"

" STOP STANDING AROUND AND PLAY SOMETHING ALREADY"

"FREEBIRD!"

The members of Beck all let out a collective sigh as they set up to play there first gig of there American Tour. It was only there first show and already frustration was showing on all the band members faces.

"Koyuki." Ryusuke said, turning to Beck's youngest member. "Let's switch things up a bit, start with face."

"O-okay." Answered an all too nervous Koyuki. Although he didn't speak English, he knew that that crowd wasn't exactly anxious to hear Beck songs and he wasn't exactly eager to be the one up front to placate them.

"Have fun, kid." said Chiba, Beck's frontman and primary vocalist. Chiba may have been arrogant and overconfident at times, but even he didn't think much of being the one to speak to this crowd.

"You think that this is a good idea Ryusuke? To throw this sort of pressure on him out of nowhere...Isn't that a bit much?" Said Taira, Beck's bassist and oldest member. Having known Koyuki for a couple years now, he was still not confident with the young guitarist's ability to handle a crowd.

"Nah, he'll do fine. He is a member of Beck after all." Smiled Saku, the drummer and second youngest member of Beck. Knowing Koyuki like he did, he knew that even though he seemed meek and timid, there was a fire in him, the fire of a Rock Star.

" Guys, seriously, fuck this discussion about it and just let Koyuki introduce the first song, kay? I just wanna get this over with and go find myself some booze and maybe even a nice girl for the night." Ryusuke said, with his trademark smirk smeared across his face. "Koyuki." He turned his attention back to the frightened guitarist. " Seriously, what's taking so long? Get this fucker rolling already."

"Kay." Chirped Koyuki, his hands shaking almost to bad to even hold his pick right. " Thi-This f-first song is called Face." As he choked out the quick introduction to the first song ( forgetting to mention the bands name in the process.) the various patrons of the bar proceeded to call the band a myriad of things, most of them involving the morals of the various members mothers and questions of there heterosexuality. All these accusations were quickly torn out of the air and replaced with awe struck silence as the first notes of the guitar and Koyuki's powerful tenor rang out across the smoky bar air.

"Well guy's not to toot my own horn, but I'd have to say that we fucking tore it up tonight!" Exclaimed a drunken Chiba on the walk back to there hotel room.

" Yeah, I'd have to say that that definitely went better then I figured it would." Said Taira, who was trying his best to keep Chiba from falling over.

" See, I told you guys that it was a good idea to start things off with face!" Exclaimed an equally drunk Ryusuke, who was jumping around and swinging his arms wildly, making it impossible for Saku and Koyuki to keep him from falling down.

" Yeah forgot to thank you again for putting me on the spot like that back there, seriously thanks a bunch!" Said Koyuki in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

" No problem man, glad I could do that for you." Said the drunk Ryusuke, completely missing the sarcasm.

" Haha, well I'm just glad that first shows done, man, I hope not all the crowds are as rough as that one. I thought they were going to tear Koyuki apart if they didn't like face." Stated Saku,

"Again, thanks a whole bunch there Ryusuke, really appreciate it." Reiterated Koyuki, now looking at the guitarist with a glaze of anger in his eyes.

"Dude, its no problem, like I said, glad I could help!" Happily said a piss-drunk Ryusuke, who was now starting to sway back n forth, his voice was also becoming less happy and groggy. As the rest of the band were busy bringing up various other points of there successful first show, Ryuuske brought his not so successful point about all the booze he had been drinking, all over Koyuki's shoes.

" Goddammit, these were new shoes too, thanks a lot Ryusuke." Said a now very pissed off Koyuki.

"Man, you don't need to be thanking me for all this stuff, were friends it's what we do, you'll just owe me one next time." Mumbled a now sick Ryusuke.

" Yeah, I'll owe you one, I should owe you one now." grumbled Koyuki. His quick flash of anger having now turned into sarcastic disappointment.

"Alright, easy there Hercules, you can get your revenge on him tomorrow morning. Come on, let's go check in now and get some sleep, we got to get up early tomorrow morning and start driving to Boston."

Back in his hotel room, Koyuki was scrubbing out his shoes with an old dish rag he found under the hotel sink while Saku was busy burning off a CD for the long trip ahead. Between angry scrubs, Saku could hear angry curse words coming from the normally gentle guitarist. Picking himself up from the bed, he walked over to where his friend was working, he placed a hand on his shoulder and said "hey, don't worry about Ryusuke, if he were conscious right now, I'm sure he'd apologize for this." Said the always cheerful Saku. His positivity seemed to flow into the already calmed down guitarist causing him to turn his head and smile, "Yeah, I know." Replied Koyuki. " I was just working off some after show jitters you know, instead of playing pool I like to make sarcastic remarks and get thrown up on, you should try it some time it really helps." laughed Koyuki.

" I'll have to try that sometime." Smiled the drummer. "So how goes the cleansing?"

"Oh, it's pretty much clean." Koyuki said, examining his white again sneakers, "I'm more or less just making sure it doesn't smell now."

"Cool, well when you're done that you should definitely head on to bed. Early day tomorrow, gotta get your beauty sleep for all those groupies we got waiting for us!" Grinned Saku, masking his cheerfulness for once with heavy amounts of sarcasm.

"Oh yeah, even if that were true can you imagine what Maho would do to me once she found out?" A shudder ran down Koyuki's spine. "If you though I was scared today, that would be nothing to the fear of facing her."

" Hahahahaha yeah, you'd definitely have a reason to be afraid then!" Replied Saku. "Anyways, I'm gone to bed for the night, I'll see you in the morning, good night."

" Yeah good night Saku, and hey, thanks." Said Koyuki, turning to smile at his friend.

"Anytime man, anytime."


	2. Chapter 2

"Come on Koyuki, get up!"

"Muhhh, what time is it?"

"It's almost one o'clock!"

"Wait, what! AHHHHHHH"

Koyuki leapt out of bed, still in his boxers, and quickly ran into the bathroom. " Saku, how did this happen! We should be half way to Boston right now!'

" Last night, Chiba passed out and, I guess in the process of passing out, knocked over Taira's alarm clock." Saku said while just as hurriedly packing any and all clothes he could find into there suitcase.

"What about our alarm?" Asked Koyuki

"Doesn't work"

" And Ryusuke's?"

" He tried to flush his down the toilet or something last night."

"Damn." Sighed a now dressed, if haggard looking Koyuki.

As Saku and Koyuki started to walk down to the main lobby they heard the other members of Beck falling over and hurriedly trying to get dressed and pack at the same time. Walking past Chiba and Taira's room the boys could hear a pissed off Taira yelling at a hung-over Chiba to "hurry the fuck up!" When they walked past Ryusuke's room, all they heard was vomiting and more profanities. The boys sighed, and quickly ran down the hallway to just catch the elevator starting to close. When they got down to the lobby, the both found a couch to sit down on and talk over what had exactly happened.

" So at the next hotel, we check to make sure our alarm clock works." said Koyuki, looking drearily at Saku/

"Yeah I think that'll be the first thing we'll do when we get to Boston." He said, his usual cheerfulness having dampened slightly. "'Cause I doubt we'll make it in time for the gig we have lined up."

"What? How long does it take to get to Boston?" Shouted Koyuki, worry making his already shaky voice that much shakier.

"About 5 hours." Replied a non-chalant Saku. " I'd say well be there in 7 what with the way our band travels."

"Greaaaaat, well what are we going to do for tonight then?"

As Saku and Koyuki sat there on the coach, trying to figure out a way to get to Boston, Alex couldn't help but over here them. " I wonder if…" Alex started to say, almost staring off into space. " No, screw it, I'll just ask 'em."

" Hey you two, over there." Alex said pointing towards the two boys. Koyuki turned around and stared, slightly slack-jawed, at the person who stood there before him. She was gorgeous there was no doubt about that, thought Koyuki. She had long black hair and deep set blue eyes that gave off a feeling of independence and fire that Koyuki had never seen before. She had a short black tank top on and ripped blue jeans that showed off her toned creamy white legs. If it wasn't for the tattoo's that ran up and down her legs and arms Koyuki would almost say she looked like a more mature Maho.

"Hellooooo earth to Koyuki!" yelled Saku, trying to shake him out of his trance. "Huh?" replied a still dazed Koyuki, suddenly remembering what he had been doing Koyuki turned a shade of beat red. "Hey." Alex said again, this time waving her hand in Koyuki's direction more abruptly. "Now your not gonna trance out on me again are you?"

" N-no, I'm sorry about that" Apologized Koyuki, he seemed to regain his senses. " I was just…thinking about something." Koyuki said. It's true, he thought, I was thinking about how good you looked.

"No problem guy." Alex smiled. "Anyways like I was telling Saku over here, I heard you guys were gonna miss your gig in Boston tonight." Said Alex, slightly smiling at Saku. " I suggested that maybe you guys could play a later gig at where I bartend." Alex informed them, her deep blue eyes staring straight at Koyuki. While Koyuki would never be able to see that another girl might be into him, everyone else could, and Chiba just couldn't miss this opportune moment to pick on Koyuki.

"Hey!" Exclaimed a much healthier looking Chiba. " What have you got here Koyuki? Does Maho know about her?" Chiba asked, wearing a huge shit eating grin on his face.

"Maho? Whose Maho?" Asked a slightly crestfallen Alex, she was sure she'd seen Koyuki checking her out.

"Oh she's just my, umm well she's my sort of girlfriend back home in Japan." Said Koyuki, as much as he was attracted to Alex, he wasn't going to risk ruining his relationship with Maho for a cheap fling here in America.

"Yeah she's this little firecracker Koyuki has back home." Said Chiba, his smile only getting bigger. "Ryusuke's little sister, I doubt he'll appreciate this too much Koyuki."

"Appreciate what?" Said Koyuki. He already knew what Chiba meant, he just didn't want to give him the satisfaction of hearing Koyuki beg for his life.

Before Chiba could make another joke about Koyuki, Taira and Ryusuke made there way into the lobby, equipment and luggage in hand. " Hey." Said Taira, directing his question towards the strange person who now sat at the table talking with his band mates. "Who is this?" Asked a puzzled Ryusuke, not lifting his eyes off of her cleavage.

" Oh yeah that's right." Said Saku, remembering that he should probably introduce everyone to the now slightly pissed off girl sitting in front of him. "Everybody this is Alex, and she'll be the one saving us today." Smiled Saku, looking at Alex. " Yeah, well I couldn't help but over hear these two talking about how you guys weren't going to make it to play that show in Boston." Explained Alex, all the while giving Ryusuke the deaths stare. " …And I was saying that I know the bar owner pretty well, so I was going too suggest that you…" Alex had to stop. She turned to face Ryusuke, looking him dead in the eyes. " You see anything you like?" She asked in ask seductively a voice as possible. " I don't know, yet, why don't you come back to my room so I can decide." grinned Ryusuke, using as cheesy a line as possible. " Well if you don't know" said the seductive Alex bring Ryusuke closer. " Then you probably shouldn't stare so much!" Alex said as she brought her knee fast and hard in between Ryusuke's legs, making the guitarist cough in pain.

"Whoa!' Exclaimed Chiba, who looked directly at Ryusuke, who was writhing in an insurmountable amount of pain. "Wow this little girl is a firecracker! Koyuki, where do you find these girls?" Teased Chiba

" I don't know what you're talking about." Said Koyuki, who was slightly blushing.

"Anyways, like I was saying, I bartend at a place near Boston, if you guys don't have any contracts with the guys at the bar, you'd be more then welcome to switch your show to my bar to try and make up at least some of the lost income." She said. " All I'd require from you guys is a ride too Boston, as my ride has decided to ditch me and leave me completely alone."

"When would the show be?" Asked Taira, taking over as the businessman of the group.

" Ten o'clock, lots of time to get there and set up."

"Can you guarantee us a gig there?"

"Pretty much., yeah."

"Alrighty then!' Said Chiba busting into the business discussions they were having, " I got a question for you now!'

"What is it?" Asked Alex, feigning a smile over Chiba's energetic attitude.

"Next time…." Chiba said, with a serious look in his eyes. "I want to be the one to knee Ryusuke in the balls."

Everyone around Chiba burst out into hysterics. Ryusuke let out a gasp and vomited in the corner.

AN: So yeah second chapter of my first fanfic :P, I think it could definitely be better but hey whatever, I'm here to Improve so Reviews would be nice :p sorry about the huge gap in between chapters but I was pretty self conscious about this chapter, I eventually just said fuck it and decided to release it and see what other people thought of it.

Anyways thanks for reading if you did, next chapter will be released quicker, I swear to god.


	3. Chapter 3

"Fuck Chiba quit touching me with your legs"

"Ryusuke this van is too small; this is literally how far my legs will stay apart."

"So you're saying you have fat legs? Maybe that's why I get all the groupies."

"MOTHERFUCKER I'LL GIVE YOU FAT LEGS!"

While all this craziness was going on in the backseat, Koyuki was seated up front trying to make small talk with Alex.

"So, are you from Boston?" Asked Koyuki.

"Not originally." Replied a smiling Alex. "My family is originally from Kyodo, Japan. My dad moved to Michigan around the time I was 16."

Koyuki smiled." Well that answers a lot of my questions already; I was wondering how you could speak Japanese so well, I just assumed you took a class or had family there."

"Nope, I'm pretty Japanese." Happily chirped Alex, "What about you guys? What part of Japan are you all from?"

"Oh were all pretty much from Tokyo." Said Koyuki "Except for Ryusuke, He was born somewhere in New York, although his parents were from Japan."

"Huh." Said Alex, looking thoughtfully ahead at the road. The sun was starting to go down, they had been on the road now for a couple of hours and she was starting to get restless. She wasn't the only one either; Chiba and Ryusuke had been beating the shit out of each other for over an hour now.

"Hey Alex," approached Saku from the middle seat, arching his back in a way so that Ryusuke's and Chiba's flailing legs and arms wouldn't hit him, " maybe we should stop for a minute or two, you know just to rest our legs for a second

"I don't think we can afford to do that." Said a clearly exasperated Taira. "If were going to make it to Boston then I think we should just keep driving, besides we only have like, an hour left of driving."

"You don't think Chiba and Ryusuke will have killed each other by then?" Asked Koyuki. They were now arguing who they thought should get the last water bottle. "Nah, they'll be fine." Replied Saku. "Besides." he continued. "It's not like we can't find any other guitarists or rappers out here."

The four of them shared a nervous chuckle at Saku's joke. Alex continued to just stare out onto the empty road. Long stretches of barely lit highway now approached her as they all fell silent, even her and Koyuki's small talk had fallen into huddled whispers as everyone in Beck now began to ready themselves for there next show. Chiba and Ryusuke's fighting had ceased as Chiba had closed his eyes into a pre-show nap and as Ryusuke lit a pre show cigarette, Taira had put in his headphones and began to tap out the rhythm while Saku went into a near meditative state. Even soft eyed Koyuki had developed a hard-lined fierceness in preparation for the gig. 'This is no two-bit band' though Alex. 'These guys are more serious then any band I've ever seen before. Just who are these guys?'

The band had arrived at Alex's bar about an hour and a half early. "Wait here." said Alex, pointing towards the bench that rested near the entrance to the bar. "I'll go in and see if I can get you guys on the bill." Alex winked, before departing into the bar. Outside, the five boys all flopped onto the bench.

"So she's a little firecracker 'aint she?" Smiled Chiba, drool sliding out of his perverted mouth. "Oh the things I would do to her…"

"Like you'd ever get anywhere with her." Smirked Ryusuke. Chiba shot him an angry glare. "I on the other hand…" started the overconfident guitarist. " I bet I could have her in the sack tonight."

"Yeah, from the way she kneed you in the balls earlier, I could really tell she likes you." Laughed Chiba, his comment bringing a grimace of pain from Ryusuke's face.

"She's definitely something special alright." Smiled Koyuki, looking up into the sky. " She reminds me a lot of Maho, makes me kind of miss home." The other four members looked at Koyuki with smiles plastered on their faces. Leave it to Koyuki to make everyone homesick on there second night in America. They all stared up into the sky, thinking of the life they had to put on hold, and what was waiting for them when they got back. It was worth it though, every sacrifice would be worth it, if they made there dream a reality.

"So I wonder how that Alex girl knew Japanese." Asked Taira, breaking the silence that had been lingering between all of them.

"Her parents are from Kyodo originally." Answered Koyuki. "She moved here when she was 16, must have been fun." Smiled the young guitarist. Again, everyone turned to smile at Koyuki.

"Somebody's been getting awful close with our new friend hasn't he?" Grinned Chiba, making Koyuki glow beat red. "No it's nothing like that, I was just trying to be nic-" he was cut off. "Maybe someone was thinking about getting a little treat while down here in America." Said Chiba, making Koyuki burn so red it looked like his face was going to catch fire.

"You weren't thinking of cheating on Maho were you Koyuki?" Asked Ryusuke, a slight tinge of anger in his voice.

"Of course not, I was just making small talk with her." Replied a nervous Koyuki.

"Because you know if she ever found out, she'd be angry right?"

"Ya obviously."

"Like, I'm pretty sure that the police would never find your body."

"I'm pretty sure she wouldn't murder me."

"You wanna bet?"

Ryusuke sat there, glaring at Koyuki. Chiba was falling off the bench he was laughing so hard at the young guitar player. Finally Koyuki spoke and broke the tension, "Ryusuke, I would never ruin what I have with Maho, just for some shitty fling here in America; I care for her too much to do something like that to her." Said Koyuki. "Yeah I know," sighed Ryusuke, looking back up into the night sky, "I just had to be sure, y'know, can't have her getting hurt again, and besides." He said, turning back and smiling at Koyuki. "If I couldn't get her, then you sure as hell couldn't!"

Just as everyone was finished laughing at Koyuki they heard the door swing open to find Alex there, standing and smiling. "Well what are you waiting for Rock Stars?" She said, motioning them into the bar.

"Your adoring fans await you." She smiled.

"Well I guess we'd better get going then, don't want to keep our fans waiting." Smirked Ryusuke.

"C'mon boys, lets go tear it up!" Exclaimed Chiba.

Taira turned around to face Koyuki and Saku. "Well you boys ready?" He smiled coolly.

Saku and Koyuki both looked at each other, then back to Taira. Fire burning in both there eyes.

"Ready."

* * *

So yeah, I realized I hadn't put up a chapter of this in like, forever so I quickly dashed this off this morning, sorry if its super short, I swear to god the next one will be a good length longer, I also guarantee it wont be as shitty as this chapter is :P well y'know, I can't guarantee but I can be pretty damn positive.

Again sorry for the wait, real life y'know?

thanks for reading!

-TBD


	4. Chapter 4

": Wow, this place is….pretty full actually."

Koyuki nodded in agreement. As the boys surveyed the now almost full bar the thoughts of this maybe being just a nice, light, easy show were quickly shoved out of there heads by thoughts of set lists, record companies and, as usual, they were wondering how nervous the other members were in comparison to themselves.

Eventually though, Ryusuke decided to take charge and lead the consensus.

"Fuck it, guys lets just get this over with and get drunk!"

At the sound of that, all the boys looked at each other and let out a collective smile. Saku finally started the show with a count off

"1"

"2"

"3"

When the first heavy chords of Beck's signature song spilled throughout the hot, sweaty bar, any doubts or negative energy that the band had was quickly displaced by the pure positive energy that was gushing out from the audience. Never had the band felt this energized. Chiba's raps had lost all sense of melody and rhythm, but were instead driven by high energy barks and a sense of emotion not heard since grateful sound.

Everybody in the band was throwing there all into it, and when it came time for Koyuki to sing, the power and smoothness of Koyuki's voice had given everyone in the crowd at a loss for words.

While all this was going on, Alex had completely stopped. The sound of Koyuki's voice and the entire vibe of the band had completely stunned Alex. The band was like, on another level, then any bands she had seen come through here, especially Koyuki. Koyuki, who had barely been able to stumble out a conversation to her, was like a god up on that stage. "This." She thought. " Is how music is supposed to sound like."

After the show, the band were all sitting around the now much quieter bar enjoying a drink with Alex. Koyuki stared down at the frothy beer that Alex had snuck him when the bar owner wasn't looking. In Japan, he thought, I would have never done anything like this.

" Hey Koyuki, you gonna drink that or just stare at it all day?" Asked Alex with a wry little smile plastered across her face. Her breath already smelled of booze and even a novice like Koyuki could tell she was definitely feeling a buzz.

" Hey don't pressure the kid, it's his first time!" yelled Chiba, who was by now falling down drunk. How he managed to get so drunk so fast was beyond anything anyone in the band could understand.

"Oh a virgin is he?" Slurred Alex as she got up and moved her face closer to Koyuki's.

"Well I know how to fix that." She cooed, Koyuki's face blushed a deep red, redder then was thought humanly possible. Everything went dead silent at there little table as Alex spoke again….

"Chug."

"W-What!"

" I said CHUG!" Screamed Alex, bringing everyone back to life as they spurred Koyuki on. Seeing his only way out of this was to give into there request, Koyuki picked up the cold bottle and tipped it back down his throat, and then sputtered it back up. "God!." He exclaimed, water coming to his eyes as he tried to cough up all of the vile liquid that had slithered down his throat, "It tastes terrible!"

Everyone at table then let out a long laugh at Koyuki's expense and continued on with there drinking. Saku, who had never drank before either, got a similar treatment from everyone else at the table resulting in his passing out and having to be carried back to the hotel by Koyuki. By the end of the night the only sober ones left at the boys' hotel were Taira and Koyuki.

" So how did you enjoy your first night out drinking?" Asked Taira, even though he had drank almost as much as Chiba, he still wasn't showing any signs of intoxication.

"Ummmm it was alright, once I got used to it wasn't so bad at all!" Slurred a slightly drunken Koyuki.

"Haha well that's good to hear, we gotta try and enjoy ourselves as much as possible on this tour, y'know, we might never get this chance again." Said Taira.

" What do you mean, Taira? Beck's gonna be huge man! I mean, we have the magic!" Said Koyuki, as he fell over in an attempted high five towards Taira. " Just look at who we have in our band man! We have Ryusuke, who is, like one of the greatest guitarists on the planet. We have Saku, who can play anything as fast or as slow as you want it, we have you, with your mad funky-punk thing going on and then there's Chiba, who is like a god on stage man, a friggin god. But wanna know what the most important thing of all about us is?" Said Koyuki, taking in a deep breath after that long spiel he had.

" What's that Koyuki?" Smiled Taira, amused by his slightly intoxicated friend.

" The chemistry we all share." Said Koyuki matter-of-factly. " We all click into this weird puzzle that for some reason allows us all to make this awesome music. If one of us were to leave, we just wouldn't be Beck anymore, we'd just be four pieces of Beck, lost in a sea of other disposable musicians."

When hearing this Taira looked over at Koyuki, his mouth slightly a gap at what the young guitarist had said. It was true, when you thought about it, thought Taira, if one of us were to leave I'd see no more point in this band. He had said it once to Eiji, and he had said it to The Pillows. This band would be huge someday, it had that fire, that energy and that chemistry, which only the truly great bands could ever achieve.

" I'm telling you, man, were gonna be massive." Said Koyuki. His eyes already starting to close from the near total exhaustion of the day.

" We can only hope so." Said Taira, more to himself then to Koyuki, who was now climbing into bed.

"What was that?" asked Koyuki.

" It was nothing, don't worry about it. Goodnight Koyuki."

"Goodnight Taira."

And with that Taira and Koyuki climbed in there beds and fell asleep. There dreams that night might have been different, but after hearing Koyuki speak his sober thoughts from his un-sober mind, Taira fell asleep with a renewed confidence that Beck's dream, and his dream, were one in the same.

* * *

Woohoo one more chapter done, the band seems to be doing pretty well on there tour so far, wonder when the plot will happen? ONLY TIME CAN TELL!

Seriously though, this is probably my favourite chapter so far. I am in no way stating that its good, or a wonderful or great chapter by any means. I know that there are many, many, areas of improvement that I could definitley improve upon. I just feel that I could read this chapter and only cringe for about 80 to 90 percent of it. Hey, its a start ;)

Next chapter should be up in 2 to 3 days, I have nothing else to do in that time so I'm hoping that if I give myself a due date it will improve my sporadic updates :p

little known fact: pressing the review button for my stories will make you seem 60 percent more attractive to the opposite sex. TRY NOW :D!


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